The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Thursday after Chrysler's bankruptcy filing undercut optimism about corporate profits and job market data.
Uneasiness about the big US automaker's bankruptcy wiped out earlier gains of more than 1% in both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500.
However, Chrysler's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing lifted shares of rivals General Motors, which rose 6.1% and Ford
Motor Co which advanced 9.7%.
Exxon Mobil Corp was the top drag on the Dow, down 2.6% at $US66.67, after the world's largest publicly traded company posted a 58% drop in quarterly profit that missed Wall Street's estimates.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 17.61 points, or 0.22%, to 8,168.12. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped just 0.83 of a point, or 0.09%, to 872.81.
The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 5.36 points, or 0.31%, to 1,717.30.
For the month of April, the Dow rose 7.4 percent, the S&P 500 was up 9.4% - its largest gain in eight years - and the Nasdaq jumped 12.4%.
The latest government data showed the number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, even as the number of people staying on those benefits rose to a fresh record high.
